The Conversation

Low blood pressure could be a culprit in dementia, studies suggest

Written by Kenneth McLeod, Professor of Systems Science, and Director - Clinical Science and Engineering Research Laboratory, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Low blood pressure may cause problems for many older people.Satyrenko/Shutterstock.com

Decline in brain function often occurs as people age. People often worry that declining brain function is an inevitable part of growing old and will lead to dementia, but it is not. Many people do not experience age-related cognitive decline.

Clinical studies that...

A father-physician tests if a little peanut a day keeps allergy away

Written by Edwin Kim, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics and Director of the UNC Food Allergy Initiative, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Creamy and smooth peanut butter and peanuts can trigger deadly reactions in those with allergies.inewsfoto/Shutterstock.com, CC BY-SA

No one I knew had food allergy, let alone peanut allergy, when I was a child. I grew up at a time when peanuts were given freely on airplanes, and there was no such thing as a peanut-free table at school. Fast...

Could President Trump be impeached and convicted – but also reelected?

Written by Austin Sarat, Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College

If he's kicked out, could he come back?AP Photo/Evan Vucci

The launching of an “official impeachment inquiry” into President Donald Trump’s conduct has sailed America into largely uncharted waters.

While there have been demands for the impeachment of many presidents, just three previous ones – Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and...

The Electoral College will never make everyone happy

Written by Mark Rush, Professor of Politics and Law and Director of Center for International Education, Washington and Lee University

With the presidential election looming, worried observers of politics have already asked whether the Electoral College will again deliver a victory to the candidate with less than a majority of the popular vote.

This has happened in two of the last five presidential elections.

Critics like Vox’s Ezra Klein contend that this phenomenon is not...

What Gandhi believed is the purpose of a corporation

Written by Geoffrey Jones, Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, Harvard Business School

Gandhi had a lot to say about how business leaders should behave. AP Photo/James A. Mills

Mahatma Gandhi is celebrated across the globe as an idealist who used civil disobedience to frustrate and overthrow British colonialists in India.

The popularity of his nonviolent teachings – which inspired civil rights activists such as Martin Luther...

Leave 'em laughing instead of crying: Climate humor can break down barriers and find common ground

Written by Maxwell Boykoff, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Director, Center for Science and Technology Policy Research, University of Colorado Boulder

Protest in Gauhati, India, on Sept. 20, 2019, part of worldwide demonstrations ahead of a U.N. summit in New York. AP Photo/Anupam Nath

Climate change is not inherently funny. Typically, the messengers are serious scientists describing how rising greenhouse gas emissions are harming the planet on land and at sea, or assessing what role it played in...

For male students, technical education in high school boosts earnings after graduation

Written by Shaun M. Dougherty, Associate Professor of Public Policy & Education, Vanderbilt University

Students in the electrical program at H.C. Wilcox Technical High School in Meriden, Connecticut practice their skills.Connecticut Technical Education and Career System

Job prospects for young men who only have a high school diploma are particularly bleak. They are even worse for those who have less education. When young men experience joblessness,...

Posting on Facebook is helping nonprofits of all sizes raise money

Written by Abhishek Bhati, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Bowling Green State University

More and more fundraising happens online.karen roach/Shutterstock.com

Online giving, donations for charities made through websites and apps, is growing quickly. It rose 17% between 2016 and 2018 to over US$34 billion. Some 8.5% of all U.S. charitable donations, including grants from foundations and gifts from people and companies, are made through...

Rural hospital closings reach crisis stage, leaving millions without nearby health care

Written by Jane Bolin, Professor of Health Policy + Management, Deputy Director of the Southwest Rural Health Research Center; Associate dean of research, College of Nursing, Texas A&M University

A welcome sign to Bristol, a small town that sits in Virginia and Tennessee, June 26, 2019. Bristol is trying to recruit doctors because the rural town is facing many of the same health care shortages of other rural towns.Sudhin Thanawala/AP Photo

Presidential candidates and other politicians have talked about the rural health crisis in the U.S.,...

Gut microbes can get you drunk and damage your liver

Written by Bill Sullivan, Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Indiana University

Drinking alcohol isn't the only cause of high blood alcohol levels.nikamo

Imagine that you’re a police officer. You spot a car ahead that is swerving all over the road. You pull the driver over and she’s clearly intoxicated. With slurred speech, she swears that she hasn’t had a drop of alcohol all day. Would you believe her?

In 2016...